A Bridge Game Too Far

For the residents of a local retirement home, the weekly bridge game is more than just a way of life, it's a way of staying alive, so when Mabel Shepherd announces she's sitting the game out for the night, the news travels fast as her fellow bridge partners plan their next moves and play their cards a little too far from their chests.

A Bridge Game Too Far was written specifically for performance by actors over 65. It was inspired by a New York Times article reprinted in the Observer on 7 June 2009. The article focused on bridge players at the retirement community of Laguna Woods, California. Playing contract bridge was seen as helpful in preventing dementia, but slipping up in games may lead to people having to drop out, and to quote one resident ‘when they stop playing, they don’t live much longer.’

The full one-act play was first performed on Wednesday 2nd March 2011 by Old Hamptonians Amateur Dramatic Society for the 2011 Elmbridge Drama Festival. A seven minute version of the play was previously performed at the Ovation Theatre Awards 2010 . The most recent production of the play was by Tower Theatre company in March 2012. The review of that production described the play as 'An expertly crafted script and a clever set-up about power play between the residents of a care home'

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